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mukumukunomi · 4 months

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From: Your Heart To: Mine

cw: Luffy x fem!reader, romantic pining, long-distance relationship, Wano arc spoilers?, loose cannon compliance (follows cannon loosely).

wc: 2,394k

a/n: Last fic of the year! Mainly just me putting a bunch of ideas into a quick story and will probably have a few more parts in the future. I had several hc's of Luffy being in a relationship with someone far away and someone who he didn't ask to join his crew, and why that might be. And then I had the idea of long-distance penpals and protective!Luffy reunions so it just spiraled from there. Hope you enjoy it, Happy New Year! :)

Part 1

Part 2 (TBD)

❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦

Luffy shifts in anticipation. “Where is it?”

Dark orbs scan the horizon, mouth chewing loudly on a sandwich as his legs swing over the side of the crow’s nest. It’s a relatively calm day on the Grand Line. The Thousand Sunny’s hull breaks the azure waves as they crest, leaving a wake of churned water behind. Their trail is swiftly swept away by the tides into a stretch of blue on blue. A blurred line where the sea meets the sky. It is only broken by the speckle of fluffy white clouds that lazily trek above him.

In other words, the perfect day for a News Coo to appear.

The bird’s last appearance is fuzzy in his memory. Was it last week? Last month? When was the last time his bounty had gone up? The fact he doesn’t remember concerns him because it means there’s been no news from you in a long while. He only pays attention when there’s something from you.

He yawns, staring up at the sun currently hidden behind a large cloud. The days seem to stretch longer without you. Your island may be far away now, but he can almost feel your presence as if right beside him. What were you doing? What was the last tasty thing you ate? Did you spill three or four bottles of ink today?

Not knowing is its own form of torture. It’s hard to not miss you in the moments where something strikes him with your familiarity. Blue skies remind him of your little blue house on the island. The stars remind him of the lake. The patch of grass that spans Sunny’s deck reminds him of your garden. And Robin’s books remind him of the papers and ink littered across your kitchen table.

There was no way of knowing then how those small letters in your handwriting would become such a crucial part of his life. In a way, they became points of time where his adventure reconnected to yours. Snippets of your life he would have never known about if you hadn’t logged it for him to see.

Flapping wings catches his attention as a beak snatches the sandwich from his hand.

“Hey!”

The large gull swoops downwards, landing awkwardly on deck. It narrowly misses hitting Brook, who’s tuning his violin strings, and swerves over to where Nami’s lounging on the deck under an umbrella with Sanji serving beverages. It swallows the half-eaten sandwich whole just as Luffy lands with a thud next to it.

“Give it back!” He yells, grabbing the bird by the neck and shaking it. It doesn’t discourage the creature to hack it up in the slightest.

Nami’s annoyed gaze meets his as she fans herself in the heat. She fishes into her pocket for a moment before extending her hands towards them in a gesturing motion. The flash of something shiny focuses the bird’s attention. “Bring it here, Luffy.”

He grumbles, but obliges. Nami slots the berry into the bag around the News Coo’s neck, then holds her hand out expectantly. The gull drops the newspaper into her open palm. Nami doesn’t retract, leveling a stare at the bird. “Anything else?”

It shakes its head.

The redhead’s frown deepens as she sets the newspaper in her lap. She sits up, flicking another golden coin into the air almost threateningly. “Are you sure? Those letters with the star symbol on them? You didn’t drop it, did you?”

The bird reaffirms its previous gesture with a vigorous shake of its head under her intense glare. It takes Luffy a moment to realize what exactly it means.

No letter.

He drops the bird abruptly as disappointment bubbles inside him. The avian lets out a yelp as Luffy turns to walk dejectedly away, missing the way his navigator’s face falls as he does so.

“Listen here,” Nami’s voice echoes behind him, now shaking the bird in the same way Luffy had, “You’re going to deliver this letter to Starcleaved Island. Expedited. And don’t return until you bring back news about our friend.”

Luffy registers the sound of several coins before the bird takes off above him again. He feels limbless as he climbs up the stairs towards the back of the boat, drifting his way into the library filled with dusty books and laid out sketches of archeological sites. Robin smiles gently at him as he sinks into a chair next to her. “Can I help you, captain?”

“Oi, Robin, can I see Y/N’s letters again?”

Robin clearly wants to say something, but at the last moment turns to grab a familiar blue leather tome from the shelf behind her. He gently thumbs to the most recent entry, earmarked and already worn from how many times he’s turned to it. Luffy takes a moment to appreciate the way the letter is adhered to the page of the book, obviously done with care in the experienced hands of his archeologist. Without Robin, these letters would have probably ended up lost. It had been her idea to keep them in something more sustainable.

But the thought is fleeting as his eyes are once again drawn to the top of the last entry:

Luffy, It’s been a long while since you and the crew left. How is everyone? Are they still eating well? You haven’t eaten all of the food I gave you already have you? What adventures have you had since we last spoke? I’m doing much better now that I’ve gotten over that nasty cold I caught right at the start of the season. Please thank Chopper for the medicinal recipe he sent with your letter last time. Oh! And Sanji’s soup recipe! They were lifesavers! Though, I do wish I were eating it with you. Like when you were here. We had so much fun. We couldn’t keep Zoro and Franky from the alcohol. And Usopp did that weird dance to Brook’s song. Do you remember that? Hopefully, Nami was able to use that note I made. Forgery is all fun and games until you actually have to convince people the documents you write are real. But we know Nami is sneaky, and I’m the best forger there is. There’s no way my handiwork is discernible. You can’t tell the real from my fakes. I thought a lot about what you said. I think maybe you’re right. I’ve heard Dressarosa has become a really beautiful place after all the unrest there. (Although, I wonder who’s responsible for that?) Maybe I can extend my business further out into the world. Smuggled goods receipt, fake invitations, not-so-deceased wills…my hand itches just thinking about it. Sincerely yours, Y/N P.S Your handwriting has gotten better. Robin must be really patient to get you to sit for more than five minutes. P.P.S You know, I still haven’t been able to get that stain out from where you spilled the red ink. You owe me a new rug.

He notes the date, questioning eyes meeting Robin’s. “How long has it been since we got this letter?”

Robin hums in thought. “About three months.”

No letter from you in almost three months. It wasn’t like you at all. Not with all the previous letters filling up more than half the book already.

“We’re all worried.” Robin says gently, comfortingly.

He speaks slowly, eyes not leaving the page. “Y/N can take care of herself. She’s strong.”

He’d already accepted the risks when parting separate ways. He was on his own adventure, and you were on yours. That fact doesn’t stop the ache you leave behind.

“She would have loved to come with us.” The raven-haired woman muses, flipping to the page of her text where she had left off. It’s both a statement and a question that’s left unanswered as the room goes quiet.

But Robin's words stick like glue to his mind in the silence. It’s rare for him to reflect on past decisions. He’s not the type to regret. “I know.”

He knew not extending an offer to you had hurt you. Knew how much you would have loved to come. But it hadn’t felt right at the time. Joining his crew wasn’t something you needed. Not in the same way as the rest of the crew. They had been nobodies to the rest of the world. Adrift with no sense of purpose. He had seen their potential and felt their worth through their grit. Each of his current shipmates needed this crew, and this crew only, to realize that. Luffy sensed you already had determined your purpose long ago without them.

Still, he did need you. In what capacity, he didn’t know. He vowed that once he became the King of the Pirates, he’d circle back down the Grand Line to see you. Perhaps, he’d figure out this feeling in his chest that he hadn’t been able to shake since leaving Starcleaved Island.

***

Well, this was splendid.

You huff in annoyance as you sit in the dingy cell, footsteps loudly clanging from the deck above. It was damp and dark here. You didn't know how long you hadn't showered, nor the last time you saw the sun. The only light source came from the gaps between the floorboards. A slit beam of it shone directly on you, and you savor the sun’s warm comfort as you muse about your predicament.

Starcleaved Island was a peaceful respite on the Grand Line, famed mainly for its phenomena of meteor showers. Boats would go out into the middle of a large lake, which spanned nearly a quarter of the center of the island’s mass, to sight see the recurring celestial objects that streaked across the sky. It was told that once, long ago, a meteor fell and 'cleaved' a hole in the center of the island, which eventually became the lake. You had grown up standing next to that body of water, wishing on those shooting stars, for as long as you could remember. You and your little blue house next to it.

Everything changed when they came. When he came. When Luffy appeared on the shores of the lake next to your house. Half-drowned and soaking to the bone on that brisk morning. You had gotten your first look of one of the most infamous pirates of the sea, besides the ones on wanted posters.

He had been adorable. Was still adorable to you.

You feel yourself flush as the thought permeates your reminiscing. Goosebumps unrelated to the dampness in the air radiate along your skin as you recall his smile and boyish charm. You miss him. There wasn’t a moment since his departure that you didn’t. There was something gravitating to his existence, as if the entire world centered itself on him. He was frightening, quite frankly. All that power and influence in the hands of an idiot.

Of course each new wanted poster of that adorable idiot went on your fridge for you to ogle. You couldn't resist.

But how in the world did you get such rotten luck? You had just saved up a month’s worth of expenses for travel for a new business venture to Dressarosa when these pirates raided your hometown. And taken you, unfortunately.

The wayward thoughts are broken up by the sound of something clanging against the metal bars of your cell. Narrow eyes glance at you from the other side, a sneer on the pirate’s lips as he spits a wad of chewing tobacco onto the floor. “Girlie, you feel like talkin’ yet?”

You frown, crossing your arms.

The pirate grumbles something under his breath. “Two months of silence isn’t going to bring you back to that shoddy little island we found you at.”

You feel the emotion bubble in your chest, just managing to swallow the sob that wants to tear its way from your throat. That was your shoddy little island. How dare he take you from it?

The man sticks his pinkie-finger in his ear and wiggles it. “Perhaps you’ll talk when we tell ya where we are. Ever heard of Wano, girlie?”

You blink. Wano? The samurai country? From what you understand, they were mostly closed off from the rest of the world. It was at least a three month's travel away from home!

“We’ve got our weapon materials to sell. And unless you want to join the fishes, you’ll forge those documents to say we’re a spice ship.”

You felt your lip curl in disgust. Weapons for what? “How do you even know I-”

“Your bag’s filled with all kinds of unfinished notes for entry into Dressarosa. Quite good.”

You curse. Discretion was gone, it seemed. “I don’t extend my services to scum.”

The brute simply smiles at the rasp of your voice. “I-”

“Captain!”

The man turns at the sound of the voice coming from the deck above. He cranes his neck upwards at the helmsman. Sucking air through the gap in his teeth, the captain calls wearily. “Whaddya’ want!?”

The helmsman’s voice echoes down loudly over the sound of the waves against the hull. “The barrelman spotted a pirate ship crashed on the shore where we were to drop anchor.”

“So what?!”

“The Jolly Roger…it’s the flag of the Strawhats, sir!”

Your heart skips a beat. The Sunny was here?

The captain blinks with mouth agape as he processes the information. “We…” The man scratches at the scruff on his chin, “We’ll go around it. We’ll pull into port instead.”

“But, sir, without the documents there will be suspicion…”

Your voice comes out louder than you intend. “I’ll do it.”

The captain turns to you quizzically. You clear your throat. “You have example documents, right? I can do it in an hour…unless you broke the inks in my bag.”

There’s suspicion in the man’s gaze. “Really?”

“I don’t work for free. I have one condition: You let me walk away once we dock.”

A laugh that sounds like a pitiful cough erupts from him. “Ha! You know what you’re asking for? If you stay here you won’t be able to leave! You’ll never leave Wano’s borders alive!”

It takes all your strength not to shake anxiously. “Do we have a deal?”

The captain shakes his head as he walks away, chuckling. “Your funeral, girlie.”

You watch him ascend to the deck, letting out a sigh of relief once the trapdoor is shut. Your palms press gently onto your eyeballs as you try to fight the wave of nausea rolling over you.

Sunny was here. Luffy was here.

You had to get away from these people quickly and find him. No matter what it took.

#luffy x reader #one piece fanfic #luffy x female reader #wano arc spoilers #luffy x you #luffy x y/n #muku'sfics

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wingodex · 1 year

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it’s been two weeks since 1079 but i’m still thinking about kid and just spinning him around endlessly inside my head. he sucks so bad but he compels me so much anyway. truly terrible. the thing about kid is that he’s a character told through contrast. we only learn things about him by comparing him to other characters, and I love that, I find it so fascinating. the other two members of the captain trio are the ones he’s usually contrasted against, with luffy being the most important one to the understanding of his character because he’s literally in the story to be luffy’s foil

kid’s not luffy’s only foil in the story, with blackbeard clearly being set up as a foil as well, but both kid and blackbeard serve different functions in the story. while blackbeard is supposed to be the worst kind of pirate, the opposite of everything luffy stands for, kid is more like the evil mirror version of luffy. he’s the kind of pirate luffy could have been, if things were a little different. he’s a pirate captain going after the one piece and aiming to become the pirate king just like luffy, and he’s the only captain with a crew member who is also a supernova. they’re brash, impulsive, a little stupid, and loud, with unbreakable wills and crews who will die to protect them and their dream. they're both competitive and voracious eaters. kid even apparently grew up in a scrapyard, not unlike the gray terminal. on the surface they’re almost the same, but with one crucial difference; luffy is kind and draws people together, while kid is uncaring and unwilling to work with others.

now admittedly, we don’t actually know all that much about kid even though he’s been in and out of the story for 500+ chapters, but most of what we do learn is specifically to highlight the difference between him and luffy. as i mentioned earlier, kid is meant to be luffy’s foil, to show the kind of pirate luffy could have been. the most obvious contrast between them happens at the end of their first encounter in sabaody after luffy declares that he’ll be the one to find the one piece and kid calls out to killer instead of responding to him.

it’s a callback to luffy’s first encounter with bellamy in mock town, when luffy very deliberately didn’t fight him for mocking his beliefs and dreams, which was already referencing how shanks handled the bandits in foosha village. when compared to kid, you can see a version of luffy without shank’s early intervention. luffy tried to fight the bandits to defend shanks’ pride as a young child, and he easily could have turned into the type of pirate who would always be willing to do that, always getting in worthless fights against people without the guts to believe in anything. he could have been the kind of person who jumps to violence first, every single time.

kid’s aggression and tendency to pick fights is actually the way we’re introduced to his character. he’s trying to kill apoo for staring at him? i guess? huge asshole behaviour, for sure (in contrast to kid and killer fighting the other supernovas for no reason, law’s introduction involves him watching a fight without intervening and then taunting the person who does intervene). it’s not even just that kid won’t back down from a fight though, he and his crew clearly go make problems themselves. shakky reveals that the reason kid’s bounty is higher than luffy’s is because his crew attacks and raids civilians.

while the strawhats aren’t interested in being heroes themselves, they also don’t go out of their way to harm people. in fact, they often make it their problem to keep civilians out of harm when they’re fighting antagonists, like when luffy stopped the mayor from fighting buggy, or the villagers from fighting arlong’s crew in cocoyashi village. luffy, sanji and usopp even got mad at conis for putting herself in danger to tell them the truth. it’s because of this kind of behaviour that the straw hats often end up leaving an island with everyone considering them heroes anyway, despite not purposely seeking that recognition themselves. i’m also reminded of roger not allowing his crew to attack civilians either in chapter 966.

kid’s crew is obviously not like that at all, seeming to be more like typical pirates, stealing and pillaging villages, and attacking without provocation. while we don’t know any details about the kinds of trouble the kid pirates got into before sabaody, i think it’s probably safe to say that kid and his crew tend to leave islands worse off than they found them. their actions are never to the benefit of the people living on the islands they stop at, and they certainly don’t have parties and banquets thrown for them before they leave. with one notable exception... wano. but i’ll come back to that later.

one of the big things that kid and luffy have in common is that both of them hate people who abuse their power. kid’s presence in the auction house is marked by his comments on how distasteful he finds the whole thing. kid is a character who we have seen directly criticize the world government and celestial dragons, both here and during marineford.

what sets kid apart from both law and luffy is that kid doesn’t care. he doesn’t get involved until he has to, despite how much the situation pisses him off. because it’s not his problem. he calls it a farce when saint charlos purchases camie, but makes no move to do anything about it, where luffy jumps in and punches the celestial dragon immediately. we even see law freeing jean bart, but kid spares him no such sympathy. similarly, while law heads for marineford when the broadcast shuts down, kid does nothing despite expressing disgust at the situation. he feels for things and understands things in a way that luffy doesn’t but he doesn’t care enough about others to do anything about it.

in similar situations, we often see kid responding with ruthlessness while luffy responds with kindness and empathy. when kid encounters a weak pirate crew in the new world trying to flee, he crucifies them for being cowards, apparently brutally murdering all of them. when luffy encounters brownbeard on punk hazard, a former pirate who had given up on that after being defeated, luffy shows him empathy and protects him from ceasar. he even eventually calls him a friend. what’s especially telling about this moment though, is that kid seems to echo words we’ve heard luffy say before but in a situation that places him in the opposite position from when luffy said them. it reveals them as harsh and sinister when being reflected upon by the person who is victimizing others rather than the one risking everything in the face of their potential destruction.

now, i need to take a brief moment aside to talk about kid and his crew killing people. he almost certainly kills people. it’s definitely implied that he kills people. i’m mostly inclined to believe that he does kill people, but you can’t fucking trust oda to kill anyone in the story so... you’d think his partner and best friend being named killer would be a clear indication of the fact that the kid pirates murder people and yet. i would say that that’s another way that kid’s shown to be different from luffy, law and their crews because they all allegedly don’t kill people, but i think it’s insane and makes no sense that they don’t kill people, so i consider this a very weak contrast. still, it’s there. i guess.

when law makes an alliance with luffy to take down kaido, kid makes a similar alliance with apoo and hawkins to take on shanks. luffy and law come together relatively easily, but kid clearly enters his alliance without any real desire to do so, and is completely distrustful of his compatriots. it’s only because of killer that the alliance happens at all, while luffy joins up with law despite protests from his own crew.

the way their alliances play out are interesting points of comparison too. kid is hung out to dry by hawkins after they’re both betrayed by apoo and sold out to kaido. law doesn’t betray luffy outright, but he does hide his intentions, mislead him, and try to use him to accomplish his own goals. And yet, luffy’s alliance still manages to hold out, despite law’s attempts to end it, with both luffy and law being fully and completely committed to each other and their final goal at the end. the way kid and luffy react to people who want to work together with them to accomplish their goals is vastly different too. even before being betrayed, kid was reluctant to work with others, but afterwards he is completely unwilling to even consider an alliance with luffy, even though he knows how reliable luffy is. kid considers the very act of trusting others to be the reason his crew had to endure so much in wano and he views his refusal to form another alliance to be his way of protecting them. His temporary alliance with law against big mom is only made under duress.

Whereas luffy is basically always down to work together with anyone who asks him, including his enemies, teaming up with buggy, galdino and crocodile in impel down. luffy even knows that buggy is gonna ditch him as soon as he can and doesn’t really care. he accepts help from anyone who offers it to him, and often actively seeks out companions who will provide aide in some way. luffy bonds with people quickly and easily, needing nothing more than to witness a kind action from them to throw all of his fighting power behind them. he connects with enemies and allies alike, placing his complete faith and trust in them, and earning their respect and admiration. his very presence inspires others to go above and beyond what they would normally be willing to risk for someone else because of the trusts he affords them

the contrast between kid and law is honestly not as fleshed out as the one between luffy and kid, but it’s still there and worth mentioning. the reason their interactions are so funny and combative is because they’re meant to be opposites in terms of personality. they both have lofty ambitious of turning the whole world on its head but they approach it very differently. law is a schemer, working on plans for years, and preferring to set things in motion and watch the fallout. kid dove right into the new world with nothing but his own ambition and violent tendencies to get him by. he has never planned a single thing in his entire life, and while he’s capable of strategizing in battle just like luffy is, that’s best described as a last resort. law is reserved, often trying to remain emotionally uninvolved, and secretive, keeping his cards close to his chest until the last possible moment, while kid is reactive, honest, and entirely sincere. both of them are so fucking angry, but while law’s anger had been sharpened and directed, kid’s anger is explosive, unable to find any direction at all and being thrown towards anything that gets in his way. in a funny way, the thing they have most in common is that they’re both shit disturbers who like to pick fights, although kid seems to be the one usually throwing the first punch, while law’s the one taunting his opponent into making the first move.

their fighting styles are completely different too. while i’d say that both are pretty versatile in terms of their range, law definitely seems to keep his distance from his opponents more than kid. he’ll usually play defence until he can spot a good opportunity, moving quickly in to strike and immediately pulling back after. kid will get up in his opponents space and stay there, often making himself and his metal creations the target of their attacks. law spends time analyzing his opponents and coming up with strategies to use against them. he takes advantage of his environment and his allies to get the most out of the very diverse utility of his devil fruit. kid is way more of a brawler, throwing himself into a fight without any forethought, and letting his fists lead the way. i dunno if this is an intentional character choice, or specifically an aesthetic decision, or if oda decided he didn’t want to learn anything about physics (extremely based if true) but if kid’s powers can actually do what oda claims they do, then kid is not using them as effectively as he could be, instead deliberately seeming to use them in a way that caters to his own interests in weapons and fighting style. their opposite personalities cause them to clash constantly, but their opposite fighting styles work together extremely well. law’s generally cautious nature reigns in kid’s more impulsive tendencies and protects him from unnecessary danger, while taking advantage of the opportunities they provide to move in and strike. kid’s aggressive approach forces law to make the bigger swings that are necessary to take down an emperor. it’s good synergy.

kid does have one saving grace that prevents him from being a complete villain, and that’s his commitment and love for his crew. this is actually one of the things that luffy specifically recognizes and acknowledges in him, and there's no doubt in my mind that he proposed the alliance to him because he witnessed kid's care for killer in udon. the thing that has set the supernova captain trio apart from the pirates they’re up against is their driving desire to protect their crews, and their utter devotion to them. law differs from kid and luffy in the way he chooses to protect his crew, which usually involves sending them away from the danger he places himself into. kid and luffy seem to be of one mind, understanding the dangers they’re placing their crew in, but choosing to believe in their abilities and strength to make it through because they would rather fight alongside them. the biggest testament to kid’s faith in his crew is the way he relies on them to protect him while he collects metal for his big confrontation. one of the weaknesses of kid’s devil fruit is that he needs to amass a lot of metal in order to fight effectively, and during that time, his crew protects him. kid also throws himself into danger for the sake of his crew. he allows himself to be recaptured after escaping udon just to reunite with killer again, and the driving force behind his desire to fight kaido is revenge for what was done to his crew. as misguided as his refusal to ally himself with luffy is, kid makes that decision under the hovering fear of betrayal after his devastation and fury at what had been done to killer. he’s also oddly sweet and supportive in the way that he makes his crew handle killer eating the smile fruit? like, he just obviously cares about them a lot, and killer in particular.

kid’s devotion is also reciprocated by his own crew, who allow themselves to become orochi’s pawns in order to protect him. killer goes above and beyond for kid, eating a smile fruit and even offering his own life in kid’s place on multiple occasions. kid's crew steps in to protect him from big mom and from the beast pirates afterwards. while kid is absolutely willing to put his life on the line and die, his crew cares anout him such that they're not willing to take that same risk with his life. we see them begging shanks to spare him, even handing over their poneglyph rubbings despite kid's clear desire to die for his pride.

kid’s second encounter with the red haired pirates on elbaf epitomizes the consequences of his unwillingness to work with others and his own violent temperament. if the straw hats had won the coin toss and gone to elbaf, they would have been welcomed. there would have been happy and tearful reunions with dorry and broggy, and maybe with saul. even if they would have eventually fought shanks and his crew, it would have played out so differently because they have so many friends there. kid has never been interested in solving conflicts diplomatically and he definitely hasn’t left a trail of friends behind who would be willing to step in and defend him in a tense situation. there is likely no place that the kid pirates could go where they’ll meet a friendly face. and beyond all that, shanks knows what luffy (and by extension, his crew) is like. even if the straw hats had come in swinging for whatever reason, he wouldn’t have been concerned about the safety of the crews in his fleet enough to demolish the straw hats without a chance to save themselves. where the straw hats reached out their hands in friendship to the people they’ve met during their adventures, kid and his crew have attacked without remorse, leaving nothing but devastation. shanks dealt with kid the way he did, without a shred of mercy when kid’s crew begged for his life because giving kid any leeway at all would have put the fleet under his protection in danger. maybe if kid had ever shown compassion to an enemy or a bystander, then shanks could have felt comfortable enough to let kid fight him one-one-one or even let his crew take him away to safety. but kid never has. so why would shanks extend mercy to someone who has never shown mercy himself? to someone who has never once considered offering that kindness to someone weaker than him? and that’s why the kid pirates couldn’t win. we don’t know why kid wants to find the one piece or become king of the pirates, whether he understands being a pirate in the same way luffy does. but the reason he won’t be the one to do it, why a character like him isn’t the main character of this story instead, is because he can’t see value in other people. he refuses to reach out to others, to accept them as they are and to truly care about anyone outside of his own crew. he’s lacking in luffy’s ability to draw people to him and make them want to help him and believe in him. as mihawk points out in marineford, this luffy is greatest power. that's what’s gonna get him to laugh tale. and kid doesn’t have that

so where do we go from here? shanks destroyed kid’s ship and drowned him and his crew. is that it? well, maybe? we all already knew that kid was never gonna accomplish his goal in the way he wanted to because luffy has the same goal, and i never really thought he had a chance against shanks. as we get into the endgame, oda is juggling a lot of characters and storylines so maybe this was a way to cut out some of the extras, and this really is the end for kid. i hope not, because it would suck if his role in the story was just to hype up the abilities of another character. I doubt oda would kill all of the kid pirates outright because he never kills anyone, so they’ll just stop being in the story, fading into obscurity because they couldn’t keep up with luffy.

if kid and his crew do survive and continue to play a meaningful role in the story, then that means something about kid is going to have to change after this defeat. he can’t keep tearing through the new world in the same way that he’s been doing up until now because it’s not viable anymore for him or his crew. the way i see it, there are two options here, but one of them seems way more likely than the other. the first option is that he could go fully evil and become a real antagonist for the straw hats, aligning himself with blackbeard or something stupid like that. as much as i love how kid is a huge bastard, I think this option sucks, and i don’t think the set up is there for it. kid’s function as a foil for luffy wouldn't exist anymore because his role would fold under blackbeard's, making him redundant. I also don’t think this option is very likely to happen because of how luffy reacts to both blackbeard and kid. luffy and blackbeard are immediately set up to be completely diametrically opposed and incompatible in every way right from the start, and their final clash has been in the making for 900 chapters now. while luffy bickers with kid, he actually seems to actually like him a lot? and we’ve been shown time and time again that luffy is a remarkably good judge of character and extremely emotionally intelligent, so it would just feel kind of out of place. plus, like luffy, kid is very anti-authoritarian and i can't ever see him realistically falling in line with anyone without compromising a critical element of his character.

The other option is that kid decides to make some friends and allies, but for real this time. other people have pointed out the similarity in the wording between the ending of chapter 1079 and 513 in sabaody. since I’ve spent the first part of this post talking about how kid is luffy’s foil, let’s consider luffy at the end of sabaody, and try to extrapolate what this means for kid and his crew.

that moment for luffy is where he finally hits the wall that he cannot overcome. in the east blue, luffy is easily the most powerful person around. east blue arcs go out of their way to prevent luffy from immediately jumping into combat, because the moment he does, the fight's already over. that changes when the crew enters the grand line. luffy starts to really struggle against opponents, only just barely scrapping a win in his fights. sabaody is the first point in the story where luffy is just not strong enough to overcome his opponents no matter what he does. he can’t protect his friends and he loses in a way that he can’t bounce back from. this remains true for the rest of the story before the timeskip. The summit war saga is luffy’s lowest point emotionally but also in terms of his relative strength to other characters. he shows signs of his future potential, like his use of conqueror’s haki in amazon lily/marineford, but he can’t rely on that in any meaningful way. From sabaody onward, luffy is powerless in a way we’ve never seen before. he has plenty of fights, but he doesn’t defeat any of the major antagonists of the summit war arcs. the only reason he survives is because he finds powerful allies to support him. luffy’s ability to make people want to help him protects him when his strength isn’t enough, but even still, it’s not enough to save his brother. that’s why the timeskip happens in the first place, to give luffy the time to recover and become stronger, and to fully harness the potential we know he has.

so now back to kid. In terms of power, kid should be at the top of his game. he’s just awakened his devil fruit, he’s defeated one of the four emperors, and he’s got one of the highest bounties in the world.* unlike luffy in sabaody, kid isn’t powerless at all. the real problem is that he’s a loose canon, a literal fucking railgun aimed at hundreds of people who never stood a chance against him. and despite that, he still hits a wall that he can’t overcome. when you step back and compare him to luffy pre-timeskip, it’s clear kid’s in a similar situation. while both luffy and law waited to enter the new world, kid jumped right in and he’s been scraping by, but only barely for a long time and it’s cost him and his crew. he’s managed to beat down the weaker pirates by being bigger, meaner, and more violent, but every time he’s tried to go against an emperor, it hasn’t worked out. the first encounter with big mom’s crew presumably went badly for him, he lost his arm to the red haired pirates without even fighting shanks, and kaido wiped the floor with him. when you compare what kid’s managed to accomplish in two years to what luffy manages to do in a month after he enters the new world, it’s laughable. it took him two years to increase his bounty 100 million berries, while luffy breaks 1 billion almost immediately. so then what is kid lacking? it doesn't seem like he's hit the limit of his power yet. but you see, i’ve already answered this. the thing kid is lacking is luffy’s ability to find allies and friends. the first real win he snagged in the new world was when he finally made some new friends to fight with. and the second he ditches them, he loses so badly he basically gets a death scene. in wano, kid gets a taste of his own potential, of what he could accomplish, just like luffy did during the summit war saga. kid has the ability and the drive to take on emperors! ...he just can’t do it alone. i hate to say this, because it sounds corny as hell, but the wall kid’s up against is the fact that his power of friendship isn’t strong enough. but it could be! maybe! if he put even a little bit of effort into it. we know that kid has the capacity to care about other people because he is fiercely devoted to killer and his crew. and he can inspire people to follow him and support him because his crew is equally devoted to him! they follow him into battle because they believe in him. they’re willing to subject themselves to slavery and misery or even death just to protect his life and his dream. so he could try to make some friends. i do not want a kid redemption arc, i don’t think he really needs one, like i wanna be clear that i don’t think kid should suddenly become a good person or anything like that. but maybe he could, I dunno, be a little bit nice to someone for once. make a new friend maybe. trust someone. believe in someone. you know. character development and all that. anyway, i’m interested to see where kid’s story goes from here! i really hope oda’s not done with him yet because it really does feel like he’s been laying the groundwork to do more with him despite the ending of chapter 1079

*you could absolutely make a power scaling argument about how he really seems to need to work on his haki because both him and law are kinda lagging behind luffy and zoro, and kid’s somehow even worse than law at using haki despite having conqueror’s haki. so he does still have room to grow and improve. but that’s not the point i’m making, so like, why would you? The point is that kid should’ve been flying high after taking down an emperor of the sea but shanks didn’t even give him the opportunity to fight because kid’s a piece a shit

#manga spoilers under the cut #op blogging #eustass kid #egghead arc spoilers #wano arc spoilers #he's just... on my mind. thinking about him #he's so. he just sucks so bad #he's such a jackass #but also he loves his friends? and i think he should make some more friends? you know?#this is for river bcus i doubt anyone else who follows me will read it

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